Leap Year – How Will You Spend Your Extra Day?
Our standard calendar, or Gregorian calendar, is flawed. Those seven days each week and twelve months don’t quiet sync with the astronomical year. Because of this, the calendar can drift over seasonal events that the year is supposed to track. Not to worry, we have a special fix for just that situation, Leap Year.
The leap year contains one extra day added to the calendar year, every four years, to adjust the days and synchronize it with astronomical and seasonal events. We call it a leap year because the Gregorian calendar advances one day of the week from one year to the next. In a leap year, it advances two days, due to the additional day. For example, New Year’s Eve was on a Wednesday in 2014, a Thursday in 2015, and a Friday in 2016, but it will leap to a Sunday in 2017.
Some cultures consider a leap year unlucky or have various traditions to celebrate on the “odd” year (ironically, it has an even number of days). In Greece, it’s unlucky to be married in a leap year. Here, in the United States, we celebrate Sadie Hawkins Day, where women can propose to men.
For those “lucky” ones born on February 29, you get to vary when you celebrate your birthday. Some celebrate it on February 28, while others chose March 1. Although you will have fewer birthday anniversaries than your age in years, that does not make you one quarter of your age.
I consider February 29 a special gift. We get one extra day, every four years, to make the most of it. I saw a video by Ze Frank, about our life being like a bunch of jellybeans. We have a certain amount of beans in our life and he shows the amount of beans we spend doing various tasks in life. Here is the video for you to view.
I hope all of you will take this opportunity to do something new and interesting to celebrate today. As of now, the only special thing I did today was post this article. I won’t get a chance to post on February 29th for another four years. How will you spend your extra day?